‘Community’ – ‘Anthropology 101’: R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to me

“Community” is back, boys and girls, and if you missed any of my cast and crew interviews over the summer, I talked with Donald Glover and Danny Pudi, Alison Brie, Dan Harmon, the Russo brothers and Yvette Nicole Brown. (And I have one more to go after next week’s episode airs.) As for the premiere itself, a review coming up just as soon as I put on my Spider-Man jammies…
“I’m hoping we can move away from the soap-y relationship-y stuff and into bigger, fast-paced, self-contained escapades.” -Abed

After a season finale I didn’t like very much, “Community” opens season two in incredibly strong form, with an episode that turned the finale threads both good (Jeff/Annie kiss), bad (Britta/Jeff/Stabler triangle) and uncertain (Pierce/Troy as roommates) to its advantage. As Abed’s meta quote above (and his later lament that he wanted more adventures like paintball) suggests, the romantic material of tended to be the iffiest part of season one, particularly where it involved Jeff and Britta. But the idea of Jeff and Britta having a very public, completely fake relationship built entirely on spite and one-upsmanship? Fantastic. I laughed a very long time at their awkward French kiss and their various other hostile PDAs, and Britta’s embrace of her newfound popularity among the women of Greendale (when, as Jeff reminded us, not being liked by women was always one of her hang-ups) was a very nice area in which Gillian Jacobs got to play(*).

(*) Can any of our many breakdance afficianados name the specific dance move Britta kept trying? It wasn’t quite pop-and-lock, and it wasn’t quite fish-out-of-water, and those are two of the three moves I can readily identify. (The other is the one where you spin around on a piece of cardboard.)

And the fallout from both Britta/Jeff and Jeff/Annie helped create some good tension within the group, particularly in the wedding scene where one secret (Jeff and Britta’s post-apocalyptic nookie) after another (Jeff and Annie’s kiss) came out. As meta as Abed gets – and then as much as the other characters (here Shirley and Jeff) comment on his meta nature – what makes the character, and the show’s various pop culture fetishes, work is that they’re never there just as namechecks. Abed is the way he is for a reason, which Danny Pudi plays beautifully as he reminds the trouble-making Jeff, “TV makes sense. It has logic, structure, rules. And likable leading men… We have you.”

There are comedies whose push for warm-and-fuzzy endings either ring false(**) or just seem unnecessary(***), but they’re an essential part of “Community,” and often the most effective part. Abed’s speech was a terrific moment, and even better was Jeff’s speech about respect, which was heartfelt and then hilariously undercut by Betty White trying to kill Jeff while Pierce threw urine on him. As Slappy Squirrel would say, now that’s comedy.
(**) For the false kind, see CBS’ “($#*!) My Dad Says,” which premiered immediately after “Community,” and which was parodied here in the subplot about Troy’s @oldwhitemansays Twitter feed, which I’ve been taking great pleasure out of in the week since I first watched the premiere. Interesting, though, that “Community” would take on that show and not the one directly competing against it, but “($#*!)” is an easier target, whereas I get the sense Harmon and Bill Prady from “Big Bang Theory” get along.

(***) While I loved many of the dramatic moments on “Scrubs,” there were plenty of episodes that climaxed with JD learning some kind of lesson simply because that was the formula Bill Lawrence had set forth in the pilot.

And speaking of Betty White, I was pleased to see that Chris McKenna’s script gave her an actual character to play, and not just another Old Ladies Say The Darndest Things role like she’s been doing for most of this, The Year of Betty White(****). She was crazy, but not in a way that required an octogenarian actress to be funny so much as it required an actress with impeccable delivery and timing. Dan Harmon has said that he’d love to have White come back at some point, and I would heartily welcome that character back, if only so we can see her singing more ’80s hits with Troy and Abed like their wonderful rendition of Toto’s “Africa.”

(****) Is it now The Year-Plus of Betty White? The Decade of Betty White?

Meanwhile, the episode did a good job of addressing the new position of the study group’s former professor, as Senor Chang adjusted to life as Student Chang while being just as sleazy and imperious as ever. Jeff acknowledges to the group that they’ll eventually have room in their pocket for a little spare Chang, and in the meantime we get to see Ken Jeong play the character working from a position of weakness, which is fun. Plus, he’s Smeagol!

Add in one hilarious Troy moment after another (the Spider-Man pajamas as a hat-tip to the Donald Glover/Twitter/Spidey campaign, Troy greeting Britta with “Hi, ‘Toy Story 3’!” and Troy selling out Jeff to have sex with one of the Britta groupies), Jeff dismissing “Twilight” as one long metaphor about how “men are monsters who crave young flesh,” Annie punching Jeff, Annie and Shirley’s dueling screams, and so many other great throwaway bits, and you had a premiere that showcases all that’s good, decent and damn funny about “Community.”

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"‘Community’ – ‘Anthropology 101’: R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to me"

By: Anonymous

09.24.2010 @ 12:33 AM

There’s very few shows where I’m jealous that someone got to witness it even just a few hours before me.

This is one of those shows.

By: Mike

09.24.2010 @ 12:36 AM

That Britta dance move was definitely a call-back to the episode where Annie asks her if it would be okay to date Vaughn. When Britta says sure, Annie says something to the effect that “Oh you’re so cool,” and she does that move.

By: It was

09.24.2010 @ 1:34 AM

“Turnin’ it into a snake.”

By: DirtyKash

09.24.2010 @ 12:36 AM

Loved it. Last year, they take a shot at Glee. This year, they take a shot right out of the gate at CBS and Shit my Dad says. “Who would watch that?”

By: thegeebs

09.24.2010 @ 12:36 AM

The dance move Britta kept doing was “turnin’ it into a snake,” which she pioneered in season one. It was hilariously awkward then, and it was fantastic here.

By: belinda

09.24.2010 @ 12:53 AM

Don’t know if it was technically a dance move. Annie was high fiving Britta, which Britta then turns into a snake. But yes, it never gets old.

Ah, I love this show.

By: Anonymous

09.24.2010 @ 12:38 AM

I loved Betty White’s weapon.

By: Dan

09.24.2010 @ 12:38 AM

Great to see the show jump right back into and firing on all cylinders. It really is the funniest show on tv

By: Omagus

09.24.2010 @ 12:39 AM

Watched Community for the first time and laughed pretty often. It’s going into permanent rotation.

And I was aware of the Twitter campaign to make Don Glover the new Peter Parker/Spider-Man, so I got a kick out of seeing him in those pajamas.

By: Greg M.

09.24.2010 @ 10:21 AM

SEE “MODERN WARFARE.” And the poultry one. SEE THEM NOW.

By: Stoop

09.24.2010 @ 12:48 AM

I think we have a victor in the silly Modern Family vs Community war. Community with a bullet.

By: Jenna

09.24.2010 @ 6:13 PM

That should read “Community with a makeshift crossbow arrow.”

By: Zach L

09.24.2010 @ 12:48 AM

Awesome awesome premiere, the show is without a doubt streets ahead of other comedies airing in this timeslot on a rival network.

By: Pierce

09.24.2010 @ 3:32 PM

Anyone who doesn’t understand that is already streets behind.

By: Jesse

09.24.2010 @ 12:49 AM

“I love this show”

By: Anonymous

09.24.2010 @ 12:55 AM

Totally Laugh Out Loud Funny!

You are right about the “throw away lines” too. The show is so tightly written and well acted that you can’t look down or else you miss something everyone else is laughing at.

Did the opening montage pay homage to something that I just didn’t get because I’m not up on my pop culture?

By: Mike

09.24.2010 @ 1:04 AM

I think mostly it was just references to the character’s traits(Shirley’s giant cross, the huge portrait of Pierce, etc.) other than the meta humor of Troy wearing a Spider Man shirt, referencing the uproar over a campaign for Donald Glover to play Spider Man, which led to a large racially charged row about how “Spider Man is supposed to be white.”

As for the episode, I loved it. Jeff’s ‘yeah, sure, of course’ reaction to Britta’s proposal had me rolling, especially with Annie’s facial expression and scream in response, as did their entire oneupsmanship battle, because it is exactly what those two characters would do in that situation. Betty White also was great because, as you said, she wasn’t doing the stock Betty White character, but just a funny character that any good actress could have played.
My only critique is I feel like they kind of pulled a Barney-Robin with Jeff-Annie… completely walking it back from their kiss to her finding Jeff gross in one episode. There was definitely still comic material there I think, not to mention their obvious chemistry.

By: Anonymous

09.24.2010 @ 1:16 AM

It seemed like a John Hughes moment, but I can’t place it either.

By: DonBoy

09.24.2010 @ 2:09 AM

One of the openings to “A Different World”, also set at a college?

By: DonBoy

09.24.2010 @ 2:23 AM

OK, Todd VanDerWerff at AvClub thinks it’s Wes Anderson, and having recently seen Life Aquatic I see what he means.

By: PM

09.24.2010 @ 2:32 AM

It was actually a direct homage from The Darjeeling Limited directed by Wes Anderson. The shot in that film is composed exactly like the opening we saw tonight.

By: katie71483

09.24.2010 @ 1:35 PM

@ann – the part where jeff and britta were walking with their hands in each other’s pockets was straight out of 16 candles

By: VisionOn

09.24.2010 @ 2:44 PM

@PM

It’s not necessarily a direct reference to Darjeeling. The “multiple room traveling shot” is pretty much a staple of all Wes Anderson films. The Steve Zissou submarine sequence is an even more brilliant example of it.

By: Anonymous

09.24.2010 @ 3:08 PM

Well, here was i thinking it was a reference to late nineties boybands music videos. there was a trend there at the turn of this century for that kind of video – I remember the Backstreet Boys had a particularly fine example – because it allowed the fans to connect with the member whose personality or “room” they identified with.

I loved Abed’s room…

By: PM

09.24.2010 @ 4:17 PM

@VisionON

Oh definitely, but this one last night was definitely specifically Darjeeling considering the “rooms” were not actually next to each other. In Zissou (and I think Tenenbaums has one too), it’s a literal movement through the submarine/house, but in Darjeeling it’s like a metaphorical pan through the “train” (as in the people and places we see are not actually next to each other). Someone already posted a link to it below, but here it is again:

I’m glad everyone loves Wes Anderson, but that sliding-rooms camera trick is old. The first time I saw it was in 1986. [www.youtube.com]

By: boundlessenth

09.24.2010 @ 5:02 PM

well thats definitely not what the show was referencing.

By: Shitegeist

09.24.2010 @ 1:12 AM

I agree there was a lot of good stuff in this ep, but I think most of the funny came in the first half. The second half was pretty dull.

By: Sfiog

09.24.2010 @ 1:25 AM

Love this show! Just makes me smile and always laugh at loud.

By: srpad

09.24.2010 @ 1:30 AM

I can’t get over how quickly this show became a favorite. The relationship game of chicken, the meta commentary on everything. It was all just perfect. This is going to be a great season!

By: chuchundra

09.24.2010 @ 1:44 AM

I got more of a Willem Dafoe/Green Goblin vibe from Chang’s rant.

By: sjwoo

09.24.2010 @ 2:01 AM

I was just about to post the same thing. Especially with Troy/Spider-Man connection tonight, I think it was more Green Goblin than Smeagol.

By: Guest

09.24.2010 @ 2:59 AM

No it was clearly Gollum. The camera angles were exactly the same as was half of the dialogue. If they wanted to reference green goblin they would have done it using a reflection.

By: Anonymous

09.24.2010 @ 3:35 AM

Disagree, Guest. I completely got Green Goblin out of it, with maybe a dash of Smeagol/Gollum. Either way it was hilarious.

By: sean

09.24.2010 @ 4:07 AM

I agree with the Guest. The camera angles and tone of voice where the same as Smeagol/Gollum. Even the way Chang was holding his hands when he was innocent/smeagol-chang was the same as the LOTR stuff.

I’ve never seen a show figure itself out as fast as “Community” did. It seemed to sputter out of the gate at first, and I remember feeling disappointed – but it righted the ship in amazing time to become the funniest comedy on TV. And the casting is just damn note-perfect.

Now I find myself rewinding it like it’s freaking “Lost,” though. WHAT WAS THAT outside of Annie’s bedroom window?!

By: jk

09.25.2010 @ 9:22 PM

I wondered the same thing. It appears to be a dumpster and some cardboard boxes.

By: Rob

09.27.2010 @ 9:36 PM

What joshmassey wrote.

Truly excellent freshman season and still amazingly strong starting the second.

By: Anonymous

09.24.2010 @ 2:01 AM

Tremendous season opener; the only thing that could top that is… a shout out to Slappy Squirrel! Thanks Alan.

By: Anonymous

09.24.2010 @ 2:03 AM

Gotta get Dean Pelton back next episode, I miss his creepily ambiguous sexuality.

By: J

09.24.2010 @ 2:04 AM

Thanks, Internet. You somehow set me up to be disappointed with the funniest half-hour so far this season. I need to stop interacting with other Community fans, for my own enjoyment.

So, so good. Annie’s delivery of the National Review joke assured me that this episode was off to the races, and her shared scream with Shirley confirmed that assurance.

I did think Chang was at least partly Green Goblin, given the Spiderman shoutout to Donald Glover’s summer activities earlier in the episode.

So glad this show is back. And I haven’t even checked out the Twittersode yet!

By: clairemia

09.24.2010 @ 2:17 AM

I didn’t realize how much I missed this show until I saw tonight’s ep. I just so much love everything about its silliness…
Also, I recently started watching The Wire, and upon discovering that Stringer Bell takes classes at community college, I immediately wondered how he would fit into the study group.

By: JWIII

09.24.2010 @ 3:01 AM

I was very pleased but my dislike of Abed continues to grow. He’s such a prick.

By: Susan

09.24.2010 @ 3:03 AM

Did anyone else notice what was written on the board behind Betty White. Next to “knuckle walking” it said chimps and Dean Pelton.

By: jk

09.25.2010 @ 9:24 PM

Under the assignment name Diorama, it said something like “They had better be cool!” Also, “development” was misspelled right above diorama.

My g/f noticed both.

By: Tom

09.24.2010 @ 3:12 AM

Of all the jokes I thought the funniest was when the entire group found out about Britta and Jeff’s escapades on the community table and everybody groans an “Awweeeeeee” in disgust, until Troy finishes up with an “Awwweeeee…soome”. Biggest laugh of the ep in my opinion, this is the great timing that I have come to expect from Don Glover. This slightly edges Allison Brie’s face and scream when Annie hears of the hook-up.

By: paullu

09.24.2010 @ 5:02 AM

I came here to say exactly that but you beat me to it )

This show has funnier lines in background noise than most other sitcoms have in the main “plot”.

By: Crumdawg97

09.24.2010 @ 3:49 AM

Wow, what a great premiere! I lost it immediately upon seeing Troy’s Spiderman pajamas and couldn’t really stop laughing.

Ah, what the hell, I’ll throw in 2 mini-complaints: 1. Taking the #&$* my Dad Says thing one joke too far – they didn’t need to literally talk about making it a “TV show” – we already knew everything they were getting at, so no need to dumb it down for us. 2. That Jeff and Annie aren’t together now seems like a bit of a cop-out. They portrayed it as more than just a kiss during the season finale, then just found a way to wipe that slate clean as if it were some minor plot annoyance they didn’t want to deal with.

Looking forward to seeing how Chang fits in with the study group…

By: sean

09.24.2010 @ 4:05 AM

I want to agree with you on #1…..but I can’t. I knew about the show on CBS, had seen the twitter account before it became a show, and knew that it was premiering this week…..but I didn’t make the connection to Pierce’s old man twitter until they made the joke about making a show. I guess it went over my head but I really thought that it was just a funny thing for Troy to be using crazy Pierce’s sayings. I feel dumb now for missing it until that last joke (which had me cracking up cuz I finally got it).

By: Guest

09.24.2010 @ 6:15 AM

I agree with Sean. I found the whole Troy quoting Pierce thing funny throughout the entire episode but I didn’t get the dig at SMDS until the joke about turning it into a tv show. And then the whole thing became that much better.

By: Chrissy

09.24.2010 @ 2:22 PM

I get wanting Annie and Jeff together, they have great chemistry and are funny together. But I thought this was truer to the characters. Annie is a bit young for her age, and Jeff is a self-aware lady chaser in his late-mid-30s. Age isn’t always a sticking point, but here I think it probably should be. He would undoubtedly hurt her and feel terrible about it because he likes her so much.

I don’t love that Annie claimed to find him disgusting – I do hope they return to that well eventually (once his wounds heal), as the jokes relating to Annie and Jeff tonight were some of my favorites.

By: Jim

09.24.2010 @ 4:01 AM

I think the Pierce/Troy roommate set up has some great potential, and I loved the opening sequence. My only minor complaint would be that I wouldn’t have tried to pack the stunt casting (and I love Betty White, especially the look of simple joy on her face when Troy and Abed were beat-boxing. Then she started singing freakin’ Toto!) in the same episode that re-introduced Senor Chang. I have high hopes for Student Chang.
Definitely the best show on NBC tonight.

By: Matt

09.24.2010 @ 4:02 AM

if you had told me last year that i would be 10X more excited for community than the office, i would’ve thought you were crazy, but it’s amazing how it’s turned into such an awesome show.

i don’t think there are many people on tv who do physical comedy & facial expressions better than troy right now. when he was walking away yelling “i hate you jeff winger!” in faux outrage, i was dying. almost on the level of his forced booty dance with chang last year.

By: sean

09.24.2010 @ 4:03 AM

My favorite part? When the group finds out Britta and Jeff had sex on the table and most everyone starts reacting revolted saying “Awwwwww” but Troy ends up tapping the table and saying “Awwwwwweeesome!”.

By: velocityknown

09.24.2010 @ 4:29 AM

Strongest NBC episode of the night.
I’m so glad they didn’t overuse Betty White as well. Perfect job by Harmon and Co.

By the way did anyone notice how awesomely shot the whole study group falling apart scene was? Felt like I was there witnessing the destruction, it was amazing, dark, and funny all at the same time.

By the way, I don’t know when we’ll get a 30 Rock post, but I have to ask if anyone found the jokes on there tonight a bit out of place and slightly offensive?

By: FatBallet

09.24.2010 @ 5:53 AM

A favorite moment was Troy’s face going from grief to glee at the thought of Toy Story 3. Watching tonight I realized Community had eclipsed 30 Rock in my book. THEN I saw the 30 Rock opener! Only episode I haven’t liked and suddenly felt like the bottom had dropped out.

By: David

09.24.2010 @ 5:56 AM

Anybody else think Betty White’s “That is why you fail” to Jeff was a Yoda reference?

This episode had me at “Aaaand we’re back,” but I lost it with the final Senor Chang scene. I completely see what Dan Harmon was talking about with Ken Jeong’s versatility and comic potential as a non-instructor, and I am really, really glad he’s been unleashed.

And yeah, it was total “Two Towers,” down to Jeong’s vocal inflection.

By: Anonymous

09.24.2010 @ 2:27 PM

I like Jeong, but I miss his smug superiority complex as the teacher. I’m hoping that part of his character can come back.
And I LOVED Betty White’s portrayal of anthro teacher. The performance took me back to my freshman year Intro to Cultural Anthropology class and my professor for that. ALL cultural anthro profs are halfway insane (but I mean that in the best way possible), especially the older ones…they still have one foot left in their years of field work.

By: Kmarko

09.24.2010 @ 1:36 PM

Loved Brita saying “she’d better not smile at the wall outlet….”

By: Anonymous

09.24.2010 @ 2:31 PM

Am I the only one that felt this episode just undid everything from last year and sort of pressed the reset button? I liked where things were going. I wanted to see Jeff and Annie try to have an awkward relationship and maybe hide it from Britta.

Crazy episodes are great, but I liked the way the characters were evolving and this seemed like an attempt to bring everyone back to type.

Also, Chang’s ending was ridiculous. Way too far out there.

By: jenfullmoon

09.24.2010 @ 4:25 PM

I think it’s just you and me. Definite reset button. But I wasn’t totally surprised that Jeff might back out on dating Annie, due to age and that she’d want to commit and he doesn’t so much (see other people’s posts above). I did get really overloaded on the relationship drama in this episode though, it got pretty overkill-ish.

But that said, Jeff/Britta somehow became even more creepy than Mal/Zoe in “War Stories.” Like WOW.

I loathe Gollum/Smeagol crap, so I didn’t like that either.

There were a few moments, like the anthropology rap, but mostly I was all, man, let’s move on from this.

By: BL

09.27.2010 @ 5:32 PM

Actually I have to agree with you guys as well so that’s at least three people. It’s funny that Joel McHale has stated repeatedly in several interviews that they weren’t going to do the Gilligans Island thing whwere status quo doesn’t change and yet that’s exactly what happened here. it would have been nice if there was some indication that something had changed, instead the events of the finale were erased.

By: Sarah

09.24.2010 @ 2:34 PM

I caught up on this show over the summer, and like it, but still cannot stand Ken Jeong. He is just way too over the top for me. I hope he doesn’t become a part of the group. If he does, I hope he’s used very VERY sparingly.

By: AndyW

09.24.2010 @ 2:58 PM

There’s not nearly enough love on here for Toto. I immediately rewound to watch that again.

By: Alan

09.24.2010 @ 4:26 PM

I’m worried the show is becoming too Meta, with nothing holding the actual story together. Abed’s becoming a walking narrator, providing enough pop culture references to make the critics happy, but I am getting tired of the self-referential nature of the show.

By: JWIII

09.25.2010 @ 3:24 AM

THANK YOU! He’s so annoying because of this.

By: jsnell

09.24.2010 @ 4:55 PM

Loved, loved, loved, loved it. This is now my favorite comedy on TV. Heck, favorite show on TV.

By: Name

09.24.2010 @ 6:13 PM

I’m so glad this show is back. When Mad Men ends the only things I’ll be watching are Community, Terriers and Boardwalk Empire. It would have been lonely without a little comedy in the mix.

By: Jenn

09.24.2010 @ 6:29 PM

I think Sepinwall can’t get any cooler and then he pulls out an Animainiacs reference!

By: Anonymous

09.24.2010 @ 8:55 PM

I hope they dont kill Annie’s crush for Jeff. She always looks so cute when she’s pining for him.

By: Oaktown Girl

09.24.2010 @ 10:14 PM

As they say on the internets these days: this episode was “full of win”.

By: Anonymous

09.25.2010 @ 10:51 AM

Agreed! Alan you take the words right out my mouth!

By: Jonothan Pedak

09.25.2010 @ 12:52 PM

I loved that the kiss between Britta and Jeff was real. And not the typical tv show kind where it looks like the two kissing are siblings.

By: forg

09.27.2010 @ 9:08 AM

The exit of Betty White’s character seemed so force and well her character as a whole is not remarkable at all

Anyway, I enjoyed the opening, all of Abed’s lines, the confrontation was really good!

Good job on resolving season finale issues and setting the tone for season 2

By: Lone Dissinter

09.27.2010 @ 12:48 PM

I can’t say I liked the premiere as much as the rest of you did. It was one of the rare times I really disliked Jeff, Annie and Abed. Jeff was even more of a jerk then he was in the season 1 premiere. Annie was turned back into a crazy stalker, any of the maturity she gained from last season seemed to dissapear as she spent the first half mooning over Jeff and the last half crying and acting hysterical. Abed’s meta refrencing was very annoying because it’s clear he’s being used as Dan Harmons voice.

It’s okay for a sit-com to be a sit-com sometimes. A show like this doesn’t have to try so hard to be clever or meta which i think it did in this episode.